1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to techniques for information browsing. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to a method and an apparatus for using multi-resolution visual codes to facilitate navigating through information associated with objects in the physical world.
2. Related Art
The Internet has proven to be a nearly unlimited source of information. Various web-based applications provide convenient ways for a user to browse and navigate through online information. Nowadays, almost every organization maintains a web page, and a user can effortlessly navigate through such online information and quickly locate web pages containing specific information.
Although it is presently very easy to browse for information associated with objects and items which are represented online, it is not always easy to browse for information associated with objects that exist in the physical world. While a user can access a web page from anywhere in the world, such access requires at least an Internet connection, an input device, and an output device. In addition, a user needs to associate an information identifier, such as a uniform resource locator (URL), with the subject of interest, and must somehow input this identifier into a communication device to look up the related information. This is inconvenient for a user without easy access to a computer system.
For example, suppose a tourist who is traveling through a city sees the city's opera house and wishes to obtain information about the upcoming events. If the tourist does not have access to a computer with Internet connection, the tourist can only obtain a hard copy of the program booklet from the opera house, if such a hard copy is available. Note that distributing information associated with physical objects by distributing hard copies of the information is both costly and inefficient. Currently, there is no system that allows a user to easily browse and navigate through information associated with physical objects.
Hence, there is a need for a method and an apparatus for efficiently browsing through information associated with objects in the physical world.